Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey of The Catenary Wires
Birling Gap is the third album by The Catenary Wires, and it is released on the 18th of June on Shelflife Records in the U.S and Skep Wax Records in the U.K and everywhere else. The founder members of The Catenary Wires are Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey who most Pop Swots will know, previously worked together in classic bands such as; Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research and Tender Trap. Le Document were delighted Amelia and Rob were up for being interviewed....
Le Document (LD) Noel Coward once said he thought "Work was more fun than fun" do you relate to that idea? Do you prefer writing and being in the studio to anything else the world has to offer?
Amelia Fletcher (AF) Great quote. We certainly both like keeping busy! I do find work fun and that even includes my economist day job, but definitely our music. That said, I barely see music as work. It is what we do for leisure in the evenings after a full day’s work. It is hard and tiring, especially now that we are running our own label, making our own videos, and doing our own PR. But it is rewarding – in emotional terms, at least. We don’t make any money at it!
Rob Pursey (RP) I’m not very good at leisure. I don’t really know what to do with myself if I’m on holiday, I get tense. Even when I was a kid, while my Mum and sisters were lying on the beach in Cornwall, I’d be going around the old tin mines with my Dad, trying to find mineral specimens. I was quite a nerdy kid. I’d spend evenings and weekends reading the dictionary rather than watching TV. I must have been a lot of fun to hang out with. I don’t think I’ve changed much.
AF Haha. I was the same, but with more of a maths bent. I remember my parents bought me this small fruit machine toy, and I just sat and ran it around a thousand times and wrote down the combinations that appeared so I could calculate the probabilities of each combination. I guess if that was how I entertained myself as a child, it is hardly surprising that I see work as fun as an adult.
LD You recently recorded a cover version of the Human League's Keep Feeling Fascination. Do you think the 80s was a better decade for Pop music than the 90s? Do you find yourself listening to 90s Brit Pop as much as you do 80s classics?
RP I think maybe it’s a generational thing. The 80s was when I really got into music and those songs, the ones you listen to over and over in your bedroom, are probably going to mean more to you than anything you hear later. Having said that, I didn’t like Britpop much. Politically it was vacuous, and musically it was macho. I can’t dance either, so my options in the 90s were narrowing. It’s not hard to see how Sarah Records became important – there must have been lots of people like me seeking sanctuary from mainstream ‘indie’.
AF I think differently. I love music from the 80s, but not necessarily the Pop music that was around; the things I loved the most from the 80s were not mainstream. What I loved about the 90s was that the music that I loved was suddenly actually in the charts. Either my tastes got more mainstream, or the mainstream got more cool. I like to think it was the latter.
LD I always had a soft spot for the 'Operation Heavenly' LP from 96. I felt tracks like Ben Sherman andTrophy Girlfriend deserved to be big hits. Which Heavenly songs do you still enjoy playing and which songs are you most proud of?
AF That is my favourite album too, but it wasn’t at all the most popular. I love that it sounds exactly like we wanted it to. That is surprisingly rare when making records! In terms of actual songs, though, I’m maybe prouder of the songs on the P.U.N.K. Girl EP. They were inspired by riot grrrl, and while we sounded nothing like the other riot grrrl bands, I thought it took us to a very interesting place musically and lyrically. I’ll also always have a place in my heart for the early silly pop songs like C Is The Heavenly Option.
RP We don’t play any Heavenly songs these days, though I suspect Amelia might like to.
AF We do very occasionally play Shallow when we play without the band. But yes, it is rare. We are always keen to be judged on our current music, not our past, but we are probably too extreme. Most musicians happily play at least some of their old stuff, because they know that’s what the audience wants. We’re just a bit stubborn. You can probably tell this is a discussion Rob and I have had before!
LD In 2012 your former Talulah Gosh band mate, Elizabeth Price won the Turner Prize. Are you a fan of the work by Turner Prize winning artists and do you stay in contact with Elizabeth?
RP Elizabeth is about as good at leisure as we are, so we keep in touch with her but we don’t see her very often. When we do meet up again, it will probably be because we’ve gone to her exhibition or she’s come to our gig.
AF I love her work though. It is quite particular, but very witty. I like her warped versions of reality. Her most recent exhibition was in Southwark during lockdown, so she also put it online, and I really enjoyed watching it, and chewing it over, at home.
LD Do the two of you tend to be in agreement on things like what image should go on the cover of the C.D. and what track should be released as a single? Do you ever row over what would make a suitable video or if you should spend money on getting a famous producer involved and things like that?
RP we are both very into the indie DIY ethos, where you keep control of everything, so we don’t argue too much about that. With videos, I can point a phone camera and Amelia’s good at editing. Andy Lewis (Catenary Wires bassist) is a very good producer, so that’s covered! I think we are more likely to argue about songs than anything else. It’s quite a scary environment to introduce a new song to, as that song will get a serious interrogation. Is it any good? Does it sound original enough? We don’t indulge each other very much, which is probably a good thing, but it does create tension.
AF We do argue about all these things. It is mostly constructive, although with videos and artwork, the pattern is often that Rob has an initial idea, I say it is rubbish, he changes it a fraction, and then I decide I like it. That said, sometimes it is just serendipity. When we needed some draft artwork for the current album, Rob used a photo he had happened to take of Birling Gap, which is fairly local to us. It was only meant to be a stopgap, but I really liked the image and persuaded him both that it was good enough to be the sleeve but also that we should call the album Birling Gap.
LD You've got some live dates coming up. Who are the best acts you've seen live and who was the first band/singer you ever saw play live? Have you ever had a support act that was a tough act to follow?
AF I’ve seen so many great live bands, but maybe the best were Huggy Bear, Bis and Prolapse. I think the link between them is that they were all very funny live as well as hugely energetic and great musically. Although probably my favourite ever gig was Mambo Taxi in a local private girls school when I lived in Oxford. The audience were incredibly excited and all ended up on stage; it was very funny mayhem. Tough act to follow: Lots but maybe Bratmobile were the hardest – they were just so great live. First band: Gosh, do The Wombles count?
RP the first band I saw play live was Holly and the Italians, because they were supporting The Clash. It was the day before my Chemistry O-level. I think the best thing I ever saw was The Wailing Souls. I’d loved them for a long time, and never thought I’d ever get to see them – part of the excitement was simply the fact that these amazing people from thousands of miles away were here, in the Bierkeller in Bristol. I was pretty star-struck.
LD Which track on The Catenary Wires album are you most fond of and want people to know about?
RP I’d say ‘Face on the Rail Line’. It’s a good song, but it was completely transformed by the other members of the band – the vocal harmonies, Fay’s eerie keyboard, and the amazing rhythm work from Andy and Ian. It’s the song that made me miss their company most during lockdown: we couldn’t really perform it without them.
AF I’d possibly say the same, but to be different I will say Liminal. For no reason other than I just really like it!
For more info: http://catenarywiresband.com/
